The present invention relates to data storage systems, and more particularly, this invention relates to efficiently storing object data in a storage hierarchy.
Cloud storage is primarily comprised of object storage at a massive scale. In an object storage system, each data object is assigned a unique object identifier, and each object is associated with metadata. The metadata may comprise name/value pairs representing the data in an object, user defined descriptions, thumbnails, etc.
Tiered data storage provides a method for storing data hierarchically across multiple storage tiers, such as flash storage, disk storage, and tape storage. In other words, different categories of data may be assigned to different types of storage media based on levels of protection needed, performance requirements, frequency of use, etc. For example a database requiring high performance may be stored on higher tier storage media (with lowest latency), like SSDs; whereas archival data that is less frequently accessed, and tolerant to higher access latency, can be stored on cheaper storage media, such as tapes.
An individual object stored in a tiered data storage system may be tiered based on the metadata associated with the object. For example, the object may be stored to or moved to a particular storage tier based on a heat of the object.